Following Justin Fields' departure, Kirby Smart claims he has 'no regrets' recruiting former 5-star QB
Signing Justin Fields ultimately didn’t work out for Georgia, if anything, the signing of the five-star prospect arguably turned out to be more of a distraction than anything else, but according to Kirby Smart, he doesn’t plan to change his recruiting strategy after losing his second five-star quarterback prospect in as many seasons.
While Fields did not last an entire year in Athens, bringing in another five-star signal caller clearly motivated Jake Fromm to continue to develop his game and led to the sophomore’s best season as a Bulldog last fall. Outside of the trip to LSU, Fromm was not only consistent last season, but he also caught fire down the stretch and outplayed then Heisman Trophy favorite Tua Tagovailoa in the 2018 SEC Championship Game.
When Fields turned down the likes of Florida, Florida State and Penn State to sign with Georgia, many questioned why such a talented player would sign on at a school with a player of Fromm’s caliber already entrenched as the starting quarterback. While those doubters proved to be right in the end, Smart recently stated that he had no regrets recruiting Fields and suggested he will continue to target and sign the best players for his Georgia program moving forward — regardless of how things turned out with Fields.
“No regrets,” Smart said according to Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports. “I would go recruit the best player [again].”
Smart also offered up his thoughts on college football’s new offseason device, the NCAA transfer portal. The Georgia coach claimed he supports players gaining more freedom and will support their decisions (proving his words are more than lip service, the Bulldogs did just this when Fields requested a transfer to Ohio State), he is concerned that players are too eager to enter the transfer portal when adversity strikes.
“My biggest problem with the portal is that it gives kids an easy way out,” Smart added. “I know the devil’s advocate of players’ rights and they should be able to go wherever they want to go. But I’m telling you, no normal parent would say, ‘At the first sign of trouble, I want my son to run.'”
The Georgia coach also noted that after speaking to lower level college coaches, many of them plan on signing fewer high school prospects in the future in order to recruit the many Power 5 players that are entering the transfer portal and can’t find landing spots at a Power 5 school — which is something that is happening frequently this offseason. According to 247Sports’ transfer portal database, 240 of the 450 Power 5 players in the portal remain uncommitted entering the summer.
This issue isn’t one that’s going away anytime soon but until proven another strategy works better, Smart refuses to deviate from what he knows best — recruiting the best prospects each and every recruiting cycle. That’s a luxury schools like Georgia can afford but it remains to be seen how schools a notch below UGA’s class will react to the growing transfer movement in the college football.
I think Kirby understood early on that this was going to be the new normal.
He did well to accommodate Justin Field’s transfer and to quickly put the whole ordeal in his rear view mirror and move on.
Go Dawgs!!
It’s not like he had much of a choice. And honestly I feel that’s the way it should be.
We definitely will be putting our share into the portal.
Did anyone else hear anything more on our recruiting scandal and how it will affect this year’s post-season?
This is an article on UGA….Not Tennessee.
IDIOT!
Heard major violations are coming down at UTurd. Loss of scholarships, bowl bans – the works. Sucks for your VolTards TrueDouche.
The only bowl they will playing in is the Toilet Bowl. That is where turds like TruTroll belong.
Nawwww Cal vs TCU redefined the meaning of Toilet Bowl. One of the worst games of football I have ever seen in my entire life. It wasn’t even good defense, it was just absolutely awful offense from both teams. I don’t think any game of football will EVER be that bad.
I call it, Cal and TCU basically flushed all their Cheez-It’s down the toilet.
Ah, look who got out of bed today – TruDong
What’s the matter TruDong – couldn’t find anybody at the truck stop to fill your portal?
Oh that’s too good! Trolls deserve it, though.
So no one?
If they are keeping a tight lid on, it may be worse than we thought.
Yep. Heard it was a former Vols grad we felt sorry for and had as an unpaid QC coach. He was trading same-sex favors for inside recruiting info with an internet troll posing as a UGA poster. The two are wanted in Ga for crimes against nature for something involving a goat. Fled to their enclave on rocky top last week. $het posting from their hideout.
Call the NCAA.
They need to know about this and they have jurisdiction.
This is also true of many of these GA fans, but dude…you need to get a life
Kirby took the easy way out when he left for the UGA job, he should have stuck it out at Bama and worked to beat out Nick Saban for the head coach job. He clearly lacks grit and runs at the first sign of adversity. (If you can’t tell this is sarcastic, it is. Stop criticizing unpaid amateur athletes for making decisions that are beneficial for their future careers and personal well being.)
Taking this a step further, Nick Saban showed a real lack of grit when he ran from adversity at Toledo, he should have stuck it out and worked to win a natty there.
Exactly. Dude just couldn’t handle the grind of a MAC schedule.
Not news… Fields is Ohio State’s problem now. Isn’t Dwan Mathis supposed to be good?
He is. He too will be competing for starting QB next season or even as back up this season if Fromm gets hurt. Fields is good but could not beat out Fromm for starting QB. I wish Fields the best, though.
Yeah, I do too. Ohio State could be very fun to watch or they could have their season go down the crapper depending on who Fields really is. Honestly though I’m just tired of hearing about his time at Georgia since it’s basically over, but again I’m sure Clemson and other ACC fans feel the same way about Kelly.
He’s fast, has got a big arm, but is raw and skinny. Carson Beck is a much more talented and complete pro-style QB, but I will say that Beck probably doesn’t run a 10.8 100m.
Some of the radio talking heads today were saying one of the reasons Kirby didn’t recruit Harrison bailey very hard is there is a kid, now I can’t remember his name, in Georgia I think, who is being compared to the Clemson QB but with a much faster release. A 5* of course. Some commenters were saying he had the fastest release they have ever seen on any QB, college or pro. He’s a 2021 signee. You guys know of him in sure. Davenport maybe…
I’m assuming you’re referring to Brock Vandagriff. He’s a bit small, albeit only a rising junior in high school. He’s only rated as the #4 pro-style QB in the 2021 class. It appears that class will be very deep at QB, much like Trevor’s 2018 class.
Vandergriff yes. I need to see some tape on that release. #4 is pretty good. Plenty of time to grow a little more too.
6-2 and 200 w1-2 more growing years maybe he gets to 6-3 but 6-2 isn’t bad. Has some wheels too. Looks to throw first though. Will be interesting to see what his numbers look like this season and as a senior. Good looking prospect.